Confraternal Religion: from Liberation Theology to Political Reversal Albert Doja

Confraternal religion: from liberation theology to political reversal Albert Doja To cite this version: Albert Doja. Confraternal religion: from liberation theology to political reversal. History and An- thropology, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2003, 14 (4), pp.349-381. 10.1080/0275720032000156488. halshs-00405977 HAL Id: halshs-00405977 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00405977 Submitted on 13 Oct 2009 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Published in: History and Anthropology, 2003 VOL. 14 (4), pp. 349–381 CONFRATERNAL RELIGION: FROM LIBERATION THEOLOGY TO POLITICAL REVERSAL ALBERT DOJA University of Limerick Heterodox mystics and heretics of any kind can be sometimes dangerous and other times reliable depending upon political situations, as was the case with Bektashis in Ottoman Anatolia or in early independent Albania. The historical anthropology perspective taken in this article appears helpful in revealing that Bektashism is probably the mystical order of Islam that best exemplifies a transformational pattern from a theological and ideological, as well as cultural, social and political, point of view. The system of beliefs and practices related to Bektashism seems to correspond to a kind of liberation theology, whereas the structure of Bektashi groups corresponds more or less to the type of religious organization conventionally known as “charismatic groups”. It becomes understandable, therefore, that their spiritual tendency can meet social, cultural and national perspectives. In turn, when the members of the previously persecuted religious minority have already acquired a degree of religious and political respectability within society at large, the doctrines of heterodoxy and liberation theology fade into the background. In the end, the heirs of the heterodox promoters of spiritual reform and social movement turn into followers and faithful defenders of a legitimate authority. They become the spokespeople for an institutionalized orthodoxy whose support will be sought by the political regime. Keywords: Heterodoxy; Mysticism; Sufism; Bektashi; Albanian INTRODUCTION Ethnographic studies of religion, stuck somewhere between ethnocentrism and literalism, especially in the case of Islam, have brought little distinctive anthropological analysis to bear successfully on the practical realities and political ideologies of religions. In addition, over the last one hundred years, the modern views of the nation-state and all its institutionalized mythologies have confused, erased, desecrated and demolished our understanding of the local definitions and categories of group identity articulated in everyday life. Heterodox religious movements and the institution of new forms of religion, as in the case of mystical orders of Islam, are decisive for understanding the history of religions in the Southeast European area, which in turn could bring forth insights for understanding the current situation in which group identities are being negotiated and redefined. While mystics do not partake of or express class struggle, their heterodoxy, over and beyond the intensity and power of their beliefs or the radical character of their opposition to the established religion, has always and still necessarily does crystallise political, social and cultural discontent, which is in turn very often ethnicized along nationalist lines. Correspondence to: Albert Doja, Senior Research Fellow, College of Humanities, University of Limerick, Ireland E-mail: [email protected] ISSN 0275-7206 print/ISSN 1477-2612 online © 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/0275720032000156488 350 ALBERT DOJA Although only a minority of Muslims were affiliated with brotherhoods in the world of Islam, these nonetheless have played a major historical role (Trimingham 1971: 218–244). Muslim orders often provided successful missionaries, who converted conquered peoples and developed a popular mysticism conducive to adoption by the masses. Their fervour and spirit, quite different from that of legalist Islam, a spirit that also expressed itself in practical social aspects such as hospitality to travellers and care for the sick and the poor, rendered the mystics the best mediators of Islam to the Christians. In addition, they were often spurred by resistance against the Christian invaders, and victoriously re-conquered several positions. In Muslim empires, they have contributed to the maintenance of local particularisms that are still observed today. Perhaps one of the best-known cases in anthropological literature is Evans-Pritchard’s (1949) account of the Senussi of Cyrenaica, who were able to coordinate the Order’s lodges to the Bedouin tribal structure while maintaining the organization intact and keeping control of it. Having risen up in opposition to Italian colonial domination, the Senussi succeeded in achieving the evolution of their Order into the Kingdom of Libya. In times of political anarchy, Muslim orders constituted the only solid social framework, and actually shouldered some political and even governmental functions. In Ottoman Turkey, they imposed themselves on some weak or mystic sultans. Notably the Bektashi enjoyed a certain political importance in the Ottoman Empire. Primarily colonizing dervishes, in charge of Turkicization and Islamicization of countries conquered by the first Ottoman sultans, the Order of Bektashis was connected during the fourteenth century with the body of Janissaries, the elite army and instrument of Ottoman power. To what degree the rise of the Bektashi Order can be attributed to its links with the Janissaries is a matter still open for investigation as disagreement rages among specialists about the role of Bektashis in the formation of Janissaries as an elite army. It is considered, however, that the Bektashis constantly encouraged and dominated the Janissaries by traditionally providing their religious guides. The existence of privileged links between Ottomans and Bektashis, as well as the presence of Bektashi dervishes at the sides of sultans at heroic times of conquest, gradually brought about the transformation of Ghazis and warrior dervishes into colonizing dervishes, propagators of Islamic faith. This explains why the first Ottoman sultans conferred on them the responsibility for channelling and bringing back under governmental control the heterodox groupings that were proliferating in Anatolia at this time. As the Janissaries were recruited from among Christian children converted to Islam and raised in Turkish circles, this also explains the rationale for attaching a dervish order to this armed force whose task it was to convert recently conquered countries to Islam. The Bektashis became thereby an instrument of Ottoman propaganda in these countries. One can therefore understand the reason for the expansion of the Order in the Balkans and Albania. Bektashism was a popular, non-conformist doctrine representing a hodgepodge of many elements including not only Shiism and Sufism, but also anthropomorphic and cabalistic doctrines of Hurufism combined with an extremist Shiite credo that linked devotion to the divinity of Ali with beliefs in anthropomorphism, the manifestation of God in human form, and reincarnation and metempsychosis. All of these elements were concretions added to a substratum of ancient beliefs and pre-Islamic customs, including the symbolic value attached to the letters of the alphabet and some reminiscences of sun worship personified by Ali. Despite its deep mystical roots, Bektashism is often depicted as a progressive current within Islam; one that is close to Westernizing and modernizing trends, and probably not unrelated to the Western Freemasons. This cleavage was to be strengthened in the aftermath of the official banning of the Order of Bektashis, following the abolition of the Janissary army in 1826. Bektashism was not annihilated, but resumed a more or less underground existence. Once reduced to a clandestine life, the Bektashis gradually drew closer to the Freemasons, with whom they shared the ideals of liberalism, non-conformism and CONFRATERNAL RELIGION 351 anticlericalism. Under their influence, the Bektashi were to play the role of an enlightened intelligentsia, open to progressive ideas of all sorts. Most notably, they are supposed to have joined the French Franc-masonry, thanks to Fazli Bey, who under Voltaire’s personal influence might have reorganized the Order so that it could later become the driving element of the Young Turk movement and develop close links with Turkish nationalism (Ramsaur 1942). Furthermore, the Bektashis have been permeable even to Marxist ideas during the 20th century, especially in Turkey. One known characteristic of Bektashism is its adjustment to its surroundings to the point of assimilating local beliefs and customs. The essentially syncretic nature of Bektashism is most evident in Southeast Europe, where the Bektashis adopted certain Christian religious celebrations and worshipped some of their saints. Both Christians and Bektashis commonly frequented

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